The decision was confirmed by Diageo
global communications director Stephen Doherty. The drinks giant began
the review more than three months ago.

Grayling, said Doherty, will retain
the external communications component of the brief. Burson-Marsteller,
meanwhile, has been hired to handle “strategic research and thinking on
employee engagement.”

Boutique player Impact Asia, which is
based in Singapore, has been charged with executing internal comms.
This decision follows the shifts of both Amy Wright and Kate O’Shea from
Grayling to become joint heads at Impact in 2009.

The account is led out of Diageo’s
regional HQ in Singapore.

Grayling was appointed to the brief
in 2006. Last year, Diageo shifted its global corporate brief out of
Cohn & Wolfe into Edelman.